The present invention generally relates to methods and tools employed to install piping materials. More particularly, this invention relates to a tool and method that enables the installation of a variety of pipes over long expansions with potential obstructions, such as through a building with multiple rooms, while minimizing the time required to ensure accurate installation and avoid making mislocated holes in obstructions.
Locating suitable routes for pipes of a piping system can be challenging if the piping system is to be installed over long distances, as is the case with sprinkler systems that extend across and between rooms of a large facility. Whether under construction or completed, facilities in which piping systems are installed often have structural hindrances, such as walls, I-beams, sub-floors, drywall, concrete, etc., that are obstacles to individuals laying the pipe. Because all of the pipe must be connected, it is inevitable that certain obstructions must be penetrated or removed. In the likely event that an obstruction cannot be removed, a passage through the obstruction must be formed. This task is complicated in situations where the piping system must be substantially level between its starting and finishing points, gauged by maintaining added extensions the same distance from the floor, ceiling, or adjacent walls as a proceeding pipe section. At least two installers typically work together, one to measure the opening of an existing pipe where the next pipe extension will be installed, while the other determines the future location of the pipe extension and where any obstructions must be penetrated by the extension in order to pass through the obstructions. The necessity for accuracy requires a time-consuming task of measuring and remeasuring. If only one installer is available, this task is made much more difficult as he or she bears the entire burden of making the necessary measurements.
Various tools have been proposed whose function is to simplify achieving a desired alignment and orientation of materials in construction projects, including piping systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,556 to Peil discloses a plumber's level equipped with level vials (bubbles) for leveling or plumbing a pipe section. The level is formed to have three concentric sets of different-sized pipe threads at opposite ends of the level, with one set at one end and two sets at the opposite end, allowing the level to be threaded onto any pipe with one of the three pipe thread sizes formed on the level. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,568,265 and 6,124,935 to Matthews disclose pipe fitting alignment tools that emit a light beam from one of two oppositely-disposed ends. The end of the tool opposite the light beam may be formed to have multiple sets of threads or other type of fitting for mounting the tool on the end of an existing pipe. By securing the fitting end of the tool to an existing pipe, the tool can project a light beam on surfaces that an extension of the pipe must pass through, such as a wall or other obstruction. Though not adapted for installing piping, U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,550 to Boyett et al. discloses another example of using a light beam in a construction project. Boyett et al. disclose a plumbing device that is mounted in a gimbal system and emits a light beam from each of two oppositely-disposed ends for generating spots of light on surfaces vertically above and below the device.
By insuring accurate orientation within the alignment of a piping system being installed, the tools disclosed by Peil and Matthews reduce installation time by eliminating the need to measure distances numerous times to get the desired point of entry into an obstruction that the pipe must pass through, and also allow piping installation to be performed by a single individual. However, further improvements in piping installation methods and tools would be desirable